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The Last Year
The Last Year, a series of nine fabric works by Vermont artist
Deidre Scherer, portrays the final year in the life of an elderly woman. With immense compassion and respect,
Scherer chronicles the woman's journey toward death, from the onset of her decline, through brief reprieves
of renewed strength, and finally, to acceptance and release.
Combining the techniques of layering, piecing and machine sewing,
Scherer builds a rich surface of images that have contours, highlights and shadows.
Her unique approach to fabric and thread medium serves to tell the story narratively,
and gives the figure a three-dimensional quality.
Each work depicts a visually compelling moment, while raising universal and social
issues that surround the processes of aging, dying and grieving.
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Selected
Reviews for The Last Year
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| "These are powerful
and compassionate images, ones in direct opposition to the cultural
bias against those who are old, ill, dying. Far from being morbid
or voyeuristic, Scherer's portraits are a collective homage to the
process of transition from what we call life to what we call death…
-and we realize that death, like birth, involves a sacred labor." |
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…Sherry Chayat, Syracuse
Herald American, Nov. 9, 1997
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| "The Last Year -a
powerful story." |
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…Carol Smith, Grand Travers Herald,
February 1999
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| "She combines craft and fine art
in a kind of artistic guerrilla warfare to change people's notions
about aging and dying, and, therefore, about living." |
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...Richard Ewald, Hospice Magazine,
Fall 1991
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| "(Scherer) ties form to subject
in an admirably innovative manner. That she does so with compassion
raises her art to a high level while it educates us in ways of seeing
others' -and our own -aging." |
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…Edie Meidav, Artweek,
January 30, 1992
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| "(Fabric's) familiarity engages
the viewer in a way that paint cannot. Scherer validates the medium
of stitched textiles and demonstrates that as well as the images themselves
it is possible to express deep human emotions." |
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…Ruth Smith, Embroidery,
(U.K.), Autumn 1993
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| "She combines stitches
and fabrics to create an almost unnerving human presence, generating
an overwhelming sense of concern and respect for the subject she has
so closely studied." |
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...Melissa Leavitt, The
California Aggie, March 17, 1999
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Selected Venues for The Last Year
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| 2001 |
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center,
Brattleboro, VT |
| 2000 |
Museum of the American Quilter's
Society, Paducah, KY |
| 1999 |
The Memorial Union Art Gallery,
University of California, Davis, CA |
| 1998-99 |
Dennos Museum Center, Traverse
City, MI |
| 1998 |
Cahoon Museum, Cotuit,
MA |
| 1997 |
Everson Museum of Art,
Syracuse, NY |
| 1995 |
Redding Museum of Art and
History, Redding, CA |
| 1994 |
10th International Congress
on Care of the Terminally Ill, Montreal, Canada |
| 1993 |
Pennsylvania Hospice Network,
Monroeville, PA |
| 1992 |
Williams College Museum of
Art, Williamstown, MA |
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The Ghia Gallery,
San Francisco, CA Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA |
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National Cancer
Conference, Viterbo College, LaCrosse, WI |
| 1990 |
Social Movement
Gallery, Nashville, TN, Traveling Exhibition |
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Exhibition Information for The Last Year
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| CONTENTS: |
9 pieces (frames 25" x 22"); text
panel and labels |
| PARTICIPATION FEE: |
Provided upon further inquiry
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| CRATES: |
5 |
| SHIPPING: |
Wall to wall insurance
and shipping (both ways) paid by borrowing institution |
| SUPPLEMENTAL: |
Framed drawings and studies |
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Books and reproductions |
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Artist slide lecture, gallery
presentation |
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Large work, "Extension",
under separate agreement |
| SECURITY: |
Moderate |
| LIGHT: |
Low level |
| SCHEDULE: |
6-12 weeks or by agreement |
| For more information
about presenting The Last Year, contact Deidre Scherer
for exhibition packet and scheduling. |
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©2009 Deidre Scherer.
All images are property of the artist. For permissions and reproduction information contact Deidre Scherer.
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